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Yes, excess ferts can help to feed algae but the initial algae breakout would been because of ammonia rather than ferts.

I understand the argument to say when you're using a planted substrate to give dosing the water column a while. However, the planted substrate will release the ferts over a longer period of time, so dosing the water column will aid plant growth. As chump54 said, excess ferts don't cause algae...

I don't think you have to dose it in the morning, but my preference would be to do it in the morning to give the tank the best chance. For the salts, it's best to buy the whole lot, but depends on your water stats if you want to reduce it down. So the list is Trace, MgSO4, KH2PO4, KNO3 and...

You can sprinkle or mix with a bit of tank water first. It doesn't make much of a difference really. It is best to dose pure co2 and it would be better with a tank of your size, although it's not essential. If possible, I would dose the easycarbo in the morning as it would improve the supply...

I was struggling to get good growth dosing 1ml per day of TPN+ in my 14 litre nano. I then switched to a DIY all in one mix based on EI and the difference has been amazing. Although, if there's no signs of anything going wrong with your plants then the best advice would be to keep things settled.

Hi Paul, You can dose as much and as little as you'd like of dry ferts. The idea of "EI" is to provide enough so that the plants are never at a point that they've used up all of the fertilisers. If that was the case, then the plant would be deficient. Therefore, the amount of dry ferts...

Having a break in the lights could work like you describe, but it's not something that experts use when setting up a new tank. In life, I try and have things tending to simplier ways. If I were you, I'd start with a 5-6 hour photo period in one go and see how it goes. I mean, having a break...

I agree with that too, having the lights in two stints could cause fluctuations in water parameters which aren't good. But if you're trying to do it when people are in to see the tank, then thats not too much of a problem.

From my experiance, newly planted plants take a few weeks to settle in. In that period they don't grow as fast as when they're settled in. That way, they don't need as much light energy as they would when they're growing at their full potential. I've learnt to be cautious when planting a tank...

In some ways, that could be correct: What you have to remember is that plants take some time to adjust in new setups. For example, most shop bought plants will have been grown out of the water and so plants (such as crypts) have to lose those leaves and grow the underwater ones. That decay...

As ceg has mentioned, if you're worrying about dosing ferts then don't be. You'll be causing more problems by not dosing enough than dosing too much. Dosing too little can cause plants to be un-healthy, they then leech ammonia into the tank which will cause algae outbreaks. If you're dosing...

I've been trying to work out what dry ferts I need to dose my nano (14ltr) Going by Nutri-Calc it comes up with the following: KNO3 0.08g/day K2SO4 0.04g/d KH2PO4 0.02g/d MgSO4 0.20g/d Trace 0.01g/d Adding this information into keymaker's calculator with another 50% on top for safety, I get in...

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I never used anything fancy for my all in one mix, I just used the council's finest tap water. At first I used to boil the water and leave it to cool, but after a while gave up doing that.

The liquid carbon products are similar if not the same really. None is classed as better than any other. Having BBA in your tank means that there is a co2 problem, it could either mean you've got enough in there already and it's not flowing around the tank properly or that you're not adding...

Remember that alage can be considered a plant and that once it's "hatched" from it's spore stage, it uses normal ferts to grow. We're not saying that dosing EI will kill the algae just help to prevent it from starting. Algae "hatches" from it's spore stage when the right conditions hold, which...

Just because the HC is dying doesn't mean that you need to increase the lighting. How would you describe it dying, as it could easily be a deficiency of ferts or co2. Just because you're doing under the method of EI, you still need to tailor the dosing the suit you tank and that the ferts won't...

I think someone (maybe Clive) mentioned something in another thread which sounds sensible. People start using EI and their plants grow much better than before but don't sort out the balance between light, flow, co2, ferts quick enough given the increase growth. If you're careful can keep that...

My main tank uses EI dry salts from AE/ebay, I find on a larger scale it's easier and also cheaper. For ease, I use TPN+ for my nano and also I generally find TPN+ in the bargain trolley at the LFS - but I'd use dry salts if/when I run out.

Tank size - 14L Daily dose - 2ml of TPN+ with extra KNO3 CO2 type - Easycarbo 0.3ml per day (I'm cautious due to CRS), looking to move to pressurised co2 when finances allow. Plant Mass - Medium

I think for the levels that you'll require to dose, you'll have trouble dissolving that in the water to fit in the liquidoser. I dose 50mls per day and sometimes struggle to get an suggested EIx1.2 amount into the water for a 180ltr size tank!

Before I go on holiday for two weeks (if I get to Mexico!), I plan to do a week or so before of what I plan on doing for those two weeks. I'm lucky that I've got an automatic liquid doser setup so that's sorted, so I'll turn down the photoperiod to at least 50% of the current levels and keep...

The theory behind EI is to have non limiting nutrient levels, maxing out and even overdosing shouldn't be a problem unless you seriously overdose and have high Nitrate levels. I would of thought that if you're doing the EI method you should be already 'overdosing' but you should tailor your...

I don't think it matters when you dose as long as you do. Before I started using the auto dosing system, I used to go between doing before I went to bed and first thing in the morning. It didn't seem to make a difference. Even when I missed a dose it wasn't too much of a problem either as I used...

Are you using 4dkh water in the drop checker? Otherwise the readings could/will be misleading.

TPN+ contains everything apart from co2 that your plants require. You shouldn't need to dose anything else, but you can if you feel your tank requires a different dosing regime than through TPN+ alone.

I'm out when the dosing happens so don't know if there is any cloud. What I do know is that there is more of an oily film being created since adding the all in one solution. I was just winning the battle against the plastic looking film but now have this oily one! ARGH!

Your plants are telling you things aren't right. Dosing what it says on the bottle might not be enough and you're only adding co2 with Excel. It sounds like your not dosing ferts, the root tabs only really help root feeders and won't really do anything for hairgrass. Get some ferts in there...

CSM+B is the general trace elements mix from AE. Using a bottled fert limits your options to change the dosing for specific elements but you can increase it (obviously!). Have a read through http://ukaps.org/EI.htm, that should get you started about what you need in dry powders to start doing EI.

I've recently been able to get great bargains for MgSO4 and KH2PO4 from ebay.

Need MgSO4 too.

Re: Help with all in one solution I think that Anubias will always get spot algae when they are older leaves. When this happens I chop the infested leaves to encourage new growth.

I do understand that each tank is totally different but I just don't want to be throwing away money, at the minute I'm trying to conserve money! This is more down to economics rather than the science. I might try the 10% decrease every so often.

Hi all, I'm curious, I've been throwing in large amounts of ferts into my tank. Currently, I put in (not 100% sure of the formula stuff as not got the paper with me!) Macro (3 x week) 16g MgSO4 12g KNO3 4g KH2PO4 Micro (2x week) 1g Trace 3g KSO4 I've been comparing that to others on this...

Re: Help with all in one solution I'll be really interested in to see how this goes on. I'd love to auto dose the ferts. Where do you expect to drop the solution into? Would you pump it into the filter?

Tropica Plant Nutrition Plus (TPN+) is a good all in one although it gets expensive if your using it for a large tank (compared to using dry ferts).

Hmm, easy carbo poisonous to shrimp? Not heard that before, might be why I have problems with them.

As someone once told me, the stupid questions are the ones you never ask. I've used EasyCarbo for a while to limit algae growth and my Ottos are fat and happy.

For me working out a dosing regime was a bit of trial and error. I set a routine off based on the packet's instructions (if I were using the easy life ferts or TPN+ etc) and then if plants started showing signs of deficiency, work out whats up and then add ferts or up CO2. I'm not sure how you...

I usually add 2g of AE trace mix each week in my 180ltr. I've tried shrimp loads of times in my tank but they don't usually last a week. Last time I tried cherry shrimp I reduced that down to 1g per week to see if that helped, it didn't make a difference. Speaking to some at the ADA demo day, it...

I inject pressurised co2 but continue to dose with Easy Carbo just to previous problems with algae. On the days I forget to dose my usual 5mls in my 180ltr tank, there's no side effects. so as I got a 1ltr bottle of Easy Carbo at about £19, so thats about 10p per day - not bad for piece of...

I'm thinking of doing an all-in-one solution maybe in the future as I mix my salts in water before it goes into the tank anyway. Although, reading my area's water report http://www.stwater.co.uk/upload/pdf/ZGL ... 0South.pdf there's no mention of PO4, K or Mg although my Nitrates seem rather...

My Anubias has always done well, it's actually the plants from George's tank that has been mentioned earlier. The older leaves are an algae magnet a bit but chopping off the larger leaves encourages new growth and doesn't harm things - as it promotes new growth. I get about 1-2 new leaves each...

Using an online calculator for EI for a 65ltr tank the min is... 3 Days a week dose... KNO3 0.87g (1g) K2SO4 0.4g (0.5g) KH2PO4 0.25g (0.5g) MgSO4 2.26g (2.5g) With trace at 0.15g (0.5g) I generally round up as using more doesn't hurt as the concentration of ferts will never been equal at all...

I'm a Yorkshire man and don't like to waste things :lol: :D 8) I've always rounded up but thought it might be a good thing to try and be as exact as possible?! First time for everything I know.

I bought some scales on ebay but they're a bit naff as I don't think it works properly but had it a while. Could anyone recommend a model? I'd like to get 0.01g this time.

Welcome young sir. Think I'm going to be doing the same as you soon.

Really good topic, I'll hopefully be moving to dry ferts once my life is sorted out a bit more.

I received my TPN+ today in the post after posts in my journal thread. Just wondering how much I should start to add each day, given my algae problems. I've got a 180 litre tank with the 2x35W Juwel highlite tubes. The problem I have is that sometimes I'm away for the weekend, so can I add...